True tales of the adventures and creations of a mom and her two daughters.

Tag Archives: Boston Children’s Hospital

Although I hadn’t expected that Jaycie would eventually end up at Boston Children’s Hospital, I knew that she was receiving the best possible care and that they would be able to do whatever it took to get her healthy again. Our original plans for vacation had involved spending a day in Boston, but we ended up spending much more time in the city than that and not under the fun circumstances I had planned.

I’d talked to my ex-husband a few times on the phone and he was going to drive out the night they transferred Jaycie to BCH (Friday) to be there Saturday morning. Knowing he was going to be there with Jaycie in the morning, Jordan and I didn’t feel as rushed to get back to the hospital and ate some breakfast at the hotel Saturday morning before heading to the Oak Grove T station to take the subway in. Driving into Boston in the late evening was one thing, trying to drive in on a Saturday morning was not something I was ready to try.

Using the subway took longer than I expected, but when we arrived at the hospital, Jaycie was sitting up in a recliner chair they’d brought in and happily watching TV. She looked the healthiest I’d seen her since picking her up the previous Sunday from her father’s house. My ex-husband was reading on the sofa bed by the window and Jordan was happy to see him.

Jaycie’s nurse for the weekend was named Chris and he was very friendly and informative. He encouraged us to get her up and walking around more and to make sure she kept eating and drinking. The doctors and nurses all explained to me that with perforated appendicitis with abscesses, they prefer to let the child heal before removing the appendix. They had Jaycie on antibiotics and fluids still and they said that they could drain the abscess if necessary, but that they didn’t always. As it turned out, the abscess or abscesses weren’t in a place that was easy to drain so they decided a course of antibiotics and waiting 6 weeks to remove the appendix was the best course of action.

Jordan and I spent some time in Jaycie’s and I updated my ex-husband on the situation and what had occurred up to that point. His fiancé was arriving by train that night and they were going to figure out a place to stay for the night. There was more color in Jaycie’s face and she was smiling and even laughing, which reassured me that she was finally on the road to recovery.

Satisfied that Jaycie would be fine in the company of her father and the care of the hospital staff, Jordan and I left the hospital and walked down the street to the food court we could see from Jaycie’s hospital room window. We picked up some lunch for ourselves and the girls’ father and returned to the room to eat. After a few more hours in the room helping Jaycie eat, drink, use the bathroom and walk around the hallways, I decided that Jordan and I should head out in search of food for dinner. I always go to Faneuil Hall Marketplace during my Boston visits so we hopped on the T and made our way there.

Going to the marketplace during the dinner hours was a bad idea and it took us almost two hours of waiting in line and riding the T to get back to the hospital. Even so, it was a nice change to be out of the hospital for a while and actually taking in some of Boston. I saw the horse drawn carriages lined up and decided to snap a picture to remind us that we hadn’t spent the entire time in BCH.

Once back in the room, we all ate our food hungrily and wiled away the time with what had become the usual hospital routine for Jordan and I. My ex-husband was going to stay at the hospital until he had to pick up his fiancé from the train station so around 8 p.m., Jordan and I decided to leave for the night. We knew another day of the similar routine awaited us tomorrow but that we’d have a bit of break now that the girls’ father was in the city.

The next day, Sunday, Jordan and I arrived at the hospital to find that they were cleaning Jaycie up with some wipes because she hadn’t wanted to shower. She doesn’t enjoy showering when she’s healthy so I can understand her not wanting to deal with it when she was unwell. After she was cleaned up, Jaycie put on clean hospital clothing and resumed her usual TV watching. Jordan and I brought her some Avengers action figures and a Transformer to play with a few days prior and she was actually interested in playing with them that day, which was a huge improvement!

I had promised Jordan we’d make it to a bookstore while in Boston and even though that promise had been part of the plans prior to Jaycie becoming sick, I was determined to make it happen. With my ex-husband and his fiancé keeping Jaycie company, Jordan and I set off after lunch to take the T to Barnes & Noble. As that falls under my future blog post detailing my adventures with Jordan, I’ll elaborate later.

We returned to the hospital with two new books for Jordan and a My Little Pony graphic novel for Jaycie. Jaycie immediately started looking through the comic book, which made me almost as happy as she was to receive it.

Jaycie had improved immensely over the past two days at Boston Children’s Hospital and the nurse had said she might be able to leave the following day, Monday. Jaycie was eating normally, including her favorite snack of goldfish, and they were switching her to oral antibiotics to get her off the IV version. My ex-husband and his fiancé decided to drive back to NY that evening and I admit that it was nice to get back to just the three of us. My girls are my world, we’re a triumphant trio no matter what shape we’re in and I’m just more comfortable when it’s me and my girls.

Jaycie spent one final night at Boston Children’s Hospital and we were finally able to take her back to the hotel Monday evening around rush hour. I’d driven into Boston Monday morning because I knew she wouldn’t be able to handle the T and that drive was not a fun experience. If one more person honked at me to run a light or pull through an intersection when it wasn’t safe, I was on the verge of getting out of my car to pummel them. I would never actually do something like that, but they were messing with the wrong mama at that point!

Jaycie waiting for the valet to bring our car from the hospital parking garage.

We managed to get back safely to the hotel and Jaycie was finally able to enjoy the hotel pool, which was the main reason I’d decided to book a hotel instead of rent a cottage for our summer vacation. She spent almost an hour in the pool and she was the usual smiling and happy Jaycie that Jordan and I knew. I was glad she’d had some time in the pool finally but I still wished she hadn’t had to endure so much pain and discomfort over the past several days.

Jaycie finally in the hotel pool!

Our vacation was supposed to be a fun time filled with happy memories and instead it was stressful and exhausting for all of us. Although I know that life happens and things were beyond my control, I still felt like I had failed my girls somehow by not giving them the trip we’d planned on. I’m a mom first and foremost and the health and happiness of my girls is the most important thing in the world to me. I can’t do anything to change the past and all that matters is that Jaycie gets healthy, but I’ve vowed to make next year’s summer vacation a fun and memorable time for all of us.

Upon learning that Jaycie would need to be transported via ambulance to Boston Children’s Hospital from Beverly Hospital, the steel reinforcements around my emotions began to crumble. Whenever Jordan and I were at the hospital, I would help Jaycie with whatever she needed. This included helping her use the bathroom, cleaning her up, making sure she drank water, keeping her warm with sheets or blankets, switching DVDs, brushing her hair, asking for and giving her pain meds (she was in pain but dislikes medicine so she’d never ask) and so on. I’m her mother and it’s what I do and I knew the nurses deserved a break and were busy with other patients.

I’d stayed strong, calm and caring throughout the entire experience because I knew I had to be a rock for my girls, but it was an exhausting experience overall and took its toll. Learning that Jaycie needed more care than Beverly Hospital could provide weakened my walls temporarily. I had to go into the hospital room’s bathroom to cry for a bit because it was becoming too overwhelming. When I called my ex-husband/the girls’ father to tell him about Jaycie being moved, I started crying when I was leaving the message. I really wish I hadn’t done that because he’s the last person I want to appear “weak” to, but I couldn’t help it.

I managed to suck it up and compose myself by the time Jaycie was taken to the ambulance by the friendly ambulance drivers. She seemed unconcerned by the whole thing as I think by that point, she was too exhausted to care or really know what was going on. Jordan and I said goodbye to Jaycie and then went out to my car to find the best route to Boston Children’s Hospital. The ambulance drivers reassured us that we didn’t need to follow right behind them, in fact they encouraged us not to and as they’d be dealing with heavy traffic into Boston, so we didn’t need to rush too much. As it was after dinner and neither of us had eaten since lunch, I drove to the closest Dunkin Donuts for some food. Jordan ate her donut in the restaurant but I took my bagel sandwich to go since I wanted to get on the road to the hospital.

I’m going to dedicate an entire separate blog post or two to my oldest daughter Jordan because she was such an immense help and amazing co-pilot throughout the entire situation with Jaycie. An example of this was how she broke off and handed me pieces of the bagel sandwich as I drove into Boston. The bagel was hard to tear up so I’d get pieces of just bagel, or bagel and cheese or some bacon and at one point, just a chunk of egg. Even so, I got food in my while managing to navigate and that would have been much harder without Jordan’s help! Jordan really is a wonderful 14 year old young woman and although I’m her mother and I’m biased, I think anyone that meets her would agree.

When Jordan and I arrived at Boston Children’s Hospital, we managed to find the correct parking garage and park in the first empty spot I found. We then crossed the street to the hospital and discovered that the entrance was under construction so we had to walk a rather long way around to get to the doors. We got the appropriate temporary badges, found the Emergency Room entrance and were taken immediately back to Jaycie who lay waiting in one of the Emergency area rooms. Although the room was small, it had a door that closed and helped keep the noise out. Jaycie was happy to see us and seemed tired but otherwise the same as she had been.

A couple doctors and nurses came to speak to us once we arrived and explained the situation and I was immediately reassured and calmed by their obvious understanding and knowledge of her condition. They were extremely friendly and willing to answer questions and I realized that we were exactly where we were meant to be. Shortly after we arrived, Jaycie being Jaycie asked if I could turn the TV on. As the TV was hung directly on the wall above where we were sitting, I hadn’t even known it was there, but Jaycie certainly didn’t miss it! I found the remote, turned the TV on and found Disney for her and then Jaycie was content to watch TV until her room upstairs was ready.

I believe we sat in the Emergency Room for around an hour or less before they came to take Jaycie upstairs to her room. It was after 10pm by that point. We were all tired but my girls were troopers and I was back to being a rock so we were hanging in there. A very friendly male nurse came to wheel Jaycie upstairs and I was surprised to learn we were on the 10th floor in one of the new wings called 10 Northwest. We went down so many hallways I was certain I’d get lost trying to navigate, but fortunately Jordan has a better sense of direction than I do.

When we reached Jaycie’s private room, I was surprised to find that it was bigger than my living room! Mind you, my house is rather small, but I didn’t know that private hospital rooms that large even existed. She had a TV, mini fridge, table with a couple chairs and a sofa bed by the window with a rather nice view of the city. The flat screen TV was huge and of course Jaycie wanted it turned on almost immediately. The evening nurse came and spoke to us for a bit and reassured us that Jaycie would be fine overnight when I told her we’d be going back to the hotel to sleep. Jaycie seemed as happy as she could be considering the discomfort she was in and she even smiled a little while watching TV. Confident that Jaycie would fall asleep soon and that the nurses would take great care of her, Jordan and I left her for the night.